News Release

VIA Advances CoreFusion™ Architecture with Launch of ‘Luke’ at Embedded Systems Conference 2005

Highly integrated processing and digital media core logic combination delivers leading performance for extending the ‘Flat Panel Lifestyle’ with next generation flat panel TVs and the latest personal electronics devices

Taipei, Taiwan, 8 March 2005 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, today introduced the VIA ‘Luke’ CoreFusion™ Processing Platform, combining the industry-leading VIA Eden™-N processor with the acclaimed VIA CN400 digital media chipset north bridge in a single package, at the Embedded System Conference taking place this week in San Francisco, California.

The VIA ‘Luke’ CoreFusion Processing Platform boasts all the benefits of the world’s lowest power, most secure native x86 processor with clock speeds of up to 1GHz and in-built security hardware, as well as extensive video rendering, streaming and output technologies, such as hardware MPEG-2/-4 decoding acceleration and motion compensation, in a single, low power aluminium package. With support for LVDS output for flat panel displays, DVI for LCD monitors, TV-out and CRT displays, the high-performance, thermally-efficient VIA ‘Luke’ CoreFusion Processing Platform is ideally suited for even the most demanding embedded devices.

“The VIA ‘Luke’ CoreFusion technology is another demonstration of our leadership in power efficient design and miniaturization at the silicon level, for developing unobtrusive connected x86 platforms,” said Richard Brown, Associate Vice-President of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “With Luke, we are providing technology that presents the highest levels of processing, digital media and security performance in the market today, giving tangible advantages to developers of small form factor embedded designs.”

“The VIA CoreFusion Processing Platform Architecture is our contribution to the embedded community to bring the latest x86 technologies to the fast-emerging world of personal electronics in the most power-efficient, space-efficient package,” commented Eric Chang, Special Assistant to the President, VIA Technologies, Inc. “With extended longevity and proven software compatibility, VIA CoreFusion expedites time to market and can be readily adopted by developers today.”

Utilizing up to 15% less board space than competitive solutions while offering exceptional playback and streaming of all the most popular digital video formats, the VIA ‘Luke’ CoreFusion Processing Platform has been designed to facilitate the rapidly emerging new segment of flat panel system designs such as LCD TVs to car entertainment systems, ultra portable notebooks and intelligent displays.

About the VIA ‘Luke’ CoreFusion Processing Platform
The new VIA ‘Luke’ CoreFusion Processing Platform integrates the latest generation VIA Eden-N™ processor with the VIA CN400 North Bridge in a single, low power package that significantly reduces the board real estate required for integrating a full complement of high performance x86 computing, connecting and digital media playback and recording capabilities. Utilizing up to 15% less board space than competitive solutions and with highly efficient heat dissipation, VIA CoreFusion is the ideal cost effective solution to speed up time to market for developers of low profile and highly integrated embedded devices.

In addition to the integrated S3 Graphics UniChrome™ Pro IGP, featuring a 2D/3D AGP8X graphics core with integrated MPEG-2 decoding and MPEG-4 acceleration for smooth DVD and digital video playback, the VIA ‘Luke’ CoreFusion processing platform also features support for high bandwidth DDR 333/400 memory, motion compensation and DuoView for the latest multiple format flat panel display devices.

The VIA ‘Luke’ CoreFusion Processing Platform can be coupled with a choice of the VIA VT8235M, the VT8237R or the upcoming VT8251 (PCI Express) south bridges that provide support for such advanced connectivity and digital media features as Fast Ethernet, USB 2.0, ATA-133, Serial ATA, and six-channel surround sound. Products built around VIA ‘Luke’ CoreFusion are expected to be introduced in the second quarter of 2005.

The innovative, thermally efficient packaging of the new VIA CoreFusion architecture has been applied to established products in the market, such as the VIA ‘Mark’ that features the VIA Eden™ processor with the acclaimed S3 Savage4 2D/3D graphics engine and ISA support when coupled with the VIA VT686B south bridge. The UMA graphics controller (up to 32 MB) enables connection to various displays via the integrated LVDS transmitter.

For more information on VIA 'Luke' CoreFusion Processing Platform, please go to:
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/luke/

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